72 ox THE AGEICULTURE OF 



was fallow, barley, pasture for two years, and then oats. Mr 

 Barclay for some time pursued with success a rotation of four 

 crops, viz. — 1st, wheat, manured after clover ; 2d, turnips ; 3d, 

 barley ; and 4th, clover. In the more hilly parts of the 

 interior the following somewhat peculiar rotation was followed, 

 viz., — 1st, oats ; 2d, oats, or oats and here ; 3d, turnips, potatoes, 

 and peas ; 4th, part oats and part here ; 5th, green crop as 

 before ; 6th, part oats and part here ; 7th, clover and rye grass 

 cut for hay ; 8th and 9th, pasture. It is stated that potatoes 

 were firsfc planted in Kincardineshire in 1727 by an old soldier 

 who had brought some tubers with him from Ireland to the 

 village of Marykirk, where he resided for only one year. He 

 raised a good crop, and it is recorded that, while the villagers 

 were ready enough to steal the strange plant, " none of them 

 had the ingenuity to cultivate it after he was gone." They 

 looked in vain to the stems for the seed. Potatoes were again 

 introduced into the Mearns in 1760 ; while in 1754 turnips 

 were introduced by Mr E. Scott of Dunninald, and grown by 

 him on the farm of Milton of Mathers, St Cyrus. In 1764, Mr 

 William Lyall, farmer in Wattieston, Fordoun, raised about an 

 acre of turnips, and it is stated that the crop was considered so 

 rare that it was sold in small quantities, at one penny per stone, 

 for kitchen vegetables. This crop was cultivated on only a very 

 few farms till 1775, but by the beginning of the present century 

 it was grown all over the county. Sown grasses were not in 

 general use till about 1770 ; but it is stated that as early as 

 1730, Sir William Xicolson of Glenbervie, "a spirited cultivator 

 at an early period," raised hay from sown seeds, " not, however, 

 from the seeds of any of the species of clover now in use, but 

 from such seeds as were found among the natural meadow hay." 

 The number of cattle in 1807 was 24,825, and it is stated that a 

 four-year-old Mearns ox weighed about 45 stones. The best 

 cattle are described as black or brown, or brindled, with 

 spreading horns. There were also some very good polled cattle, 

 similar to, and no doubt of the same breed as, the Buchan 

 " Humlies," the progenitors along with the Angus " Doddies " of 

 the improved polled Aberdeen and Angus breed. The sheep 

 stock numbered 24,957, and consisted mainly of blackfaced 

 sheep and the ancient dun faces. Along the coast there were a 

 few Bakewell Leicesters, and also some South Downs. At the 

 commencement of the century the farm implements were some- 

 what primitive. The ancient Scotch plough was fast giving way 

 to Small's improved ploughs, which cost about £4 each, and 

 which by 1807 was almost the only sort of plough used in the 

 county. Harrows, with five wooden bills and five iron teeth in 

 each, were coming into use, as also were single carts. During 

 the first ten years of the centurv about a score of threshinf' 



